Delegate Counts vs. Media Hype; McCain Has But 10, Obama One More Than Clinton

The horserace coverage and media spin about Clinton's comeback notwithstanding, she actually trails Barack Obama right now where it really counts, in the number of delegates (her 24 to his 25) to the Democratic Convention.

John Hinderaker at Powerline notes the delegate count, numbers that the media rarely discuss when the dust settles on hyped primaries:

New Hampshire was a big win for John McCain and a serious setback for Mitt Romney. But do last night's results mean that Romney is finished? Not at all. In fact, he is the current leader on the Republican side in delegates, as tabulated by CNN.

Turns out on the Republican side, McCain has a meager 10 delegates compared to Huckabee's 18 and Romney's 24.

Given that and the fact that McCain was helped by crossover votes from liberal independents that he cannot count on in closed primary states, the media would do well to note McCain's challenge to run to the right in order to sew up the nomination, rather than take his victory in New Hampshire as a sign that's he's the new front-runner.

Update (11:30 EST): CNN a few minutes ago noted that Clinton leads in overall delegates when the so-called "superdelegates" are factored in. Under Democratic Convention rules, certain elected officials act as so-called superdelegates and can cast their convention votes for whomever they choose. That obviously skews things in favor of the more "establishment" candidate, in this case Sen. Clinton.